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July 2009

This year, members of the Audio Engineering Society will be eligible to vote online for the 25th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in professional audio technology and production. Presented by the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio, since 1985 the TEC Awards has honored several thousand audio products and innovations, as well as dozens of the greatest contributors to the art and science of sound.

The TEC Awards will be presented at the 127th AES Convention in New York City. To ensure that the ultimate winners represent the most advanced and useful technology, as well as creative expertise, it is important that AES members take advantage of this opportunity.

Starting August 10, online voting will begin for 25 categories of Technical and Creative Achievement, comprising 16 categories of audio hardware and software and 9 categories of audio production. The nominations were made by a panel of more than 100 audio professionals from a range of disciplines.

To register to Vote, simply click on the link below, then fill out and submit the brief registration form. Before voting begins you will receive a personal identification number (PIN) to access the TEC Awards ballot. (Each registrant may only vote once and all votes are final.)

The Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization and is not affiliated with Mix magazine. For complete information about the Mix Foundation or the TEC Awards, visit www.mixfoundation.org.

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In December 1988, Delft University professor Guus Berkhout published his article in the AES Journal in which he proposed the concept of Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) as a format for spatial sound reproduction without ‘sweet spot’ limitations. Now, more than twenty years later, Diemer de Vries who was involved in the development and application of the concept from the very beginning, presents a 93-page monograph on the theme.

The principles of WFS are explained once again, with a digestible summary of the underlying mathematics. An explanation is also given of how the necessary steps, from theory (where things are infinitely large or small, having ideal properties) to real-world application, have successfully been made by making ample use of the properties of the human hearing mechanism.

Reproduction in WFS is most effective when dedicated recording techniques are used. A survey of such techniques is given. Special attention is given to the EU-project “CARROUSO” where ten institutes successfully cooperated on WFS-oriented research and development. Due to the results of this project, WFS is now known and recognized worldwide.

An illustrated short description is given of all - as far as known to the author - existing WFS systems in the world. Applications range from high-level audio research via multimedia education to night club entertainment. The monograph ends with a view to the future.

Bruce Martin: (1944-2004) Founder, Martin Audio, one of the industry’s largest dealerships in the 1970s-‘80s; an innovative console designer, and inventor of the Martin Vari-Speed, used by many studios to alter tape machine speed.

Bill Hanley: The "father of festival sound,” best known for designing, building, installing, and operating a a custom sound system for the historic 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Fair. Mr. Hanley is a storied FOH mixer and a co-founder the Fillmore East.

Ed Greene: Chief engineer at MGM Records in 1970s; world-renowned engineer; mixer for Grammy and Academy Awards and the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics broadcasts; recipient of nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards and inducted into the Technical Excellence in Creativity Hall of Fame in 2007.

Neil Muncy: Founded SSI, Inc. in 1966 where he pioneered the use of op amp technology in multi-channel consoles and high speed tape duplicating systems. Mr. Muncy is the author of the "The Pin-1 Problem," the best-selling publication in AES history.

David Hewitt: A pre-eminent remote recording engineer for almost 40 years (Neil Young, Yes, ELP), Hewitt has received multiple TEC, Grammy, Emmy and Cinema Audio awards as a live recording and broadcast engineer, and film sound mixer. Founder of Remote Recording Services, he created an innovative and hugely successful mobile recording studio. Mr. Hewitt was inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame in 2006.

Dr. Floyd E. Toole: Recipient of the 2008 CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Toole is a 40-year pioneer in the acoustics field, widely known for his research on small room acoustics, relating measurements to a listener's perceptions. A contributor to many audio publications, he continues his groundbreaking work today as VP of Acoustical Engineering at Harmon International Industries, Inc.

Dr. Marina Bosi: A past president of the AES, Dr. Bosi is Consulting Professor in the Music and Electrical Engineering Departments at Stanford University, and a founding member and director of the Digital Media Project. An accomplished author, she holds several patents and received the AES Fellowship Award for her work on audio standards development.